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Research Series

Absolutely…Not!

by admin on December 30, 2010

in Professional Issues, Research Series, Society & Aging

advice on Professional Issues, Research Series, Society & Aging ~ December 30, 2010

Di Patterson, MSG, CPG

As we head into the New Year, I am concerned with the over-use of the word absolutely these days. It just seems to be everywhere. Radio and television talk-show hosts throw it around as if it proves their point. Media guests respond with firm “Absolutely!” when their host confirms that he or she shares his or her opinion. But we are tossing around a concept that is far too important for the giddy way it has been used, since absolute has positive and negative characteristics.

Absolute is both a scientific and social term, both proven by research, both requiring validity, and both somewhat removed from the emotional exclamation “Absolutely!” some are fond of. Mathematically, absolute means “complete, measurable, real and quantitative” (1). Socially, absolute is “an important goal: as close to complete, perfect, consummate, and faultless as humanly possible” (2).

Here is a short and fast list of science’s absolutes:

Absolute value (Mathematics) describes the distance of a number on the number line from 0 without considering which direction from zero the number lies. The absolute value of a number is never negative (3).

Absolute zero (Chemistry) is the point where no more heat can be removed from a system, according to the absolute or thermodynamic temperature scale (4).

Absolute location (Geography) is the definitive location of a place using a recognized coordinate system (5).

Absolute equation (Astronomy) is the sum of the optic and eccentric equations (6).

Absolute temperature (Physics), the temperature as measured on a scale determined by certain general thermo-dynamic principles, and reckoned from the absolute zero (7).

Absolute space (Physics) is space considered without relation to material limits or objects (8).

Absolute terms (Algebra) are known terms which do not contain an unknown quantity (9).

Absolute alcohol (Chemistry) means pure and unmixed (10) (not to be confused with Absolut, which does a pretty good vodka business).

Here are definitions of the social quantifying of absolute:

Absolute perfection is opposed to relativity (11).

Absolute beauty is without comparison (12).

Absolute truth is unconditioned and non-relative. It is the opposite of relative truth, which is perceived through comparison (13).

Absolute promise or command has no modifying influences and is without comparison (14).

Absolute authority, monarchy, sovereignty or power (or absolute monarch) is described as authority free from any limitation or condition, and it is uncontrolled, unrestricted, and unconditional (15) (sounds rather Dark Ages, doesn’t it?).

Absolute’s social synonyms sound wholesome enough: “positive, certain, unconditional and authoritative” (16). But absolute also means “unlimited, unrestricted, unqualified, arbitrary, despotic, peremptory, and autocratic” (17). Socially, then, absolutes are more about importance, the term for measurements relative to human trends.

Having two degrees in Science, I think in terms of input and outcomes that are measurable, and therefore, provable. In social science, we prove absolutes, or importance, by significance. Significance is another mathematical term, using statistics for its validity (18). Because human nature is not scientific and our collective opinion can fluctuate due to changes of circumstance or by whim, social statistics build-in a percentage of error for a safety net. Enter the bell curve.

I love the bell curve. When a population is located within the bell curve, that number is statistically significant: a large, positive number with a negative out-lier population in quantity so small it is considered to be utterly unimportant (19). It is wise to consider that outliers can cause great social disturbance if given too much credibility.

The bell curve reminds us to pay attention to significance. There is no absolute, or perfection, in the bell curve. It is a collection of a majority; of significance. Significance is not absolute; significance is more a human concept. In this age of technology, we can lose the beauty of the human element by expecting absolutes. Losing our humanity would be the great tragedy of this era of time, and doom us to a life found in a bad sci-fi film. So behind my objection to responding “Absolutely!” to a question regarding an opinion is the dilution of meaning of something as strong as absolute. Are we “absolutely sure” or “absolutely certain”, or is it just a “best-guess”? “Absolutely!” is a crystallized answer implying that something is clear, certain—and without doubt—true.

What’s true in older age is really true in younger age; people just don’t tend to see aging truths until they approach somewhat older age themselves. “Older age” is also relative to the person doing the aging. More and more, younger people are paying attention to the principles of success in aging. When we realize the significance (mathematically speaking) of taking positive steps now to have a good older age later, we can put our New Year’s resolutions into real action. What we do in 2011 and beyond will build better tomorrows for our children and certainly for ourselves. We will teach by example (and, hopefully, have some good face-to-face conversations, too) when we make wise physical, financial, and personal decisions for our own older age.

My hope is that the professionals we turn to for truth and fair assessment will use the term absolutely less frequently and with more objective scrutiny. We sell ourselves too many products and services to assume perfection. This is a call to prove what is worthy of our time, talent and resources so that they don’t slip away unnoticed… Absolutely not!

I do, however, want to wish YOU an absolutely wonderful New Year!

1. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absolute

2. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absolute

3. www.eduplace.com/math

4. www.chemistry.about.com

5. www.worldatlas.com

6. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Absolute+equation

7. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/absolute

8. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/absolute

9.  http://chemistry.about.com/od/dictionariesglossaries/g/bldefabzezo.htm

10. http://www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/Absolute_value

11. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absolute

12. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absolute

13. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absolute

14. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absolute

15. http://ask.reference.com/related/Absolute+Monarchy?qsrc=2892&l=dir&o=10601

16. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/absolute

17. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/absolute

18. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/significance

19. http://www.willamette.edu/~mjaneba/help/normalcurve.html

© 2010 Diane Alexander Patterson, MSG, CPG “If good real estate is about location, location, location, then ‘success in aging’ is about attitude, attitude, attitude!” www.SeasonofLife.net

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The Healthy Body’s Enemy: Internal Inflammation

by contentadmin on June 29, 2010

in Research Series

advice on Research Series ~ June 29, 2010

153995.size800x6001 300x300 The Healthy Body’s Enemy: Internal Inflammation(RESEARCH SERIES)—In the coming weeks, I’d like to bring you some of my favorite research of the last decade. It’s upon this research that I base my Top Ten Tips for Success in Aging™.  I hope my research—and the good information it produces for important Aging matters—will be helpful in your wise search for a better older age. And I hope that begins today!

Di Patterson, MSG, CPG

A popular saying in both American business and non-profit America is Follow the money. In scientific research when we find a hot topic, a lot of money has been poured into the compilation of good information surrounding it. In the last five years, the most noteworthy medical funding has certainly been spent for questions and answers about internal inflammation.

As a Gerontologist, I also agree that the most important health concern in aging surrounds internal inflammation; the evidence is overwhelming in our daily lives. There is now solid and multiple research to show that internal inflammation “drives” the diseases of heart, lungs, stroke, cancers, diabetes, and obesity. Just as insidious are arthritis, asthma, allergies, chronic pain, fibromialgia, and eczema.

As a social scientist whose specialty in Aging also crosses into the medical field of Geriatrics, I can assure you that a concept as large as healing such a huge medical problem carries with it major social implications as well. The proof of the high degree of internal inflammation in our present society’s health outcomes are everywhere; even escalating rates of childhood diabetes, obesity and allergies abound. The irradiation, or even just a sharp reduction, in the diseases that present themselves in the presence of internal inflammation would rid our families and our country of the severe financial, emotional and physical price we pay for empowering our healthy bodies’ enemy.

In my studies, I have found some wonderful truths that I want every aging person to know about internal inflammation. When I read for new research developments, I come across some really good information I want you to be aware of. The first important find: for most of us, internal inflammation begins with what we eat.

A must-read to understanding more about internal inflammation is Inflammation Nation by Floyd Chilton, PhD and Laura Tucker. In it, they explain how some foods cause more internal inflammation than others…like farmed salmon, turkey and egg yolks.

Whoa, really? These are some of the very foods we Americans talked ourselves into believing were the best for us in the last fifteen years! They are low in fat and zero in sugars. Turkey is high in potassium. Eggs yolks are in almost every baked good we consume. Isn’t salmon one of the richest sources in omegas, and aren’t omegas good for us?

These are the right questions. The answers are simple. In brief, according to Dr. Chilton, it’s the way that the foods react inside us that create internal inflammation. Farmed salmon is fed corn and soy; two grains that for humans are nutritious and beneficial. In salmon, however, corn and soy create a chain of 9-6-3-omegas that mutate into dangerous levels of internal inflammation in humans bodies. More than about four ounces of farmed salmon every four weeks (you read right!), his research shows, is poisonous to our good health.

Another dietary suggestion coming from the study of triglycerides: de-sugar and de-starch yourself as much as possible. Sugars play havoc with humans’ health, so read up on the pro’s and con’s of all sugars, including cane sugar, honey, fructose, and other sweeteners, and how our bodies process them. Combat a silent source of inflammation: yeast. Starches become sugar, and sugars produce yeast. Fiber binds yeast to it, so eat plenty of fiber and drink enough water daily to move it through your system.

If “we are what we eat”, let’s get informed, judicious and picky!

It comes down to the research. Next week, I will write about food intolerances and some nifty ways to outsmart chronic internal inflammation!

©2010 Di Patterson, MSG, CPG “If good real estate is about location, location, location, then success in aging is about attitude, attitude, attitude!”

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